How to Survive the Holidays

By: Sabrina Blajos

Hey Fitfam, we are coming into one of my favorite times of the year! When the holidays were created it was created for a time of happiness, reflection, and spending that little extra time with the ones you love. However for some of us this time of year brings a lot of stressors, stressors of the fear of relapsing into a carefree attitude when it comes to our food choices, restricting and binging trying to compensate what you had eaten, over training that leads to causing an injury because you are trying to out work poor eating/daily habits, Or my all time favorite, i’ll just start January 1st. I know this because all of these use to be me. With that being said i want to leave you all with some tips that I am going to use to help me get through the holidays, to ensure that I enjoy when the time’s right and have healthy habits to fall into when discipline and willpower fail me (because it always will).

  1. Calendar
    1. At the start of each month take a look at a glance of what events, parties, concerts, etc that you have. Once you have it all out start to priorities which events you plan to stick to your healthy habits at and which ones have more value/meaning to you and make an active concious choice of how you want to attack it.
  2. Daily Habits
    1. Since you have your month all tracked out their is no need to break away from your plan of attack, This means the extra treats that are brought to your work from friends or co-workers, you are allowed to say No Thank You and not feel guilty about it. Monitor the Mindless eating is going to be huge! Focus on creating a new habit like meal prepping, hitting your daily water goals, or getting up and walking every hour at work. And if you do indulge, accept and move forward and try better the next day. Holding on to guilt is only going to cause you to end up in one of the categories i meantied earlier.
  3. Focus on Best vs Perfect
    1. Most of the time we find ourselves at events that we can’t control what is being served. This tends to lead to the F* it Mentality, if our “diet” isn’t perfect from start  of the event to finish we have to just take advantage of the mess up and indulge in everything. Instead, take a second to regroup and regain control of those urges. Give yourself a second to take a look at everything that is being served and then decide what is going to be best for me right now in this moment. I know it’s not going to be perfect but i have the opportunity to find what is best for me right now. Try looking for a lean protein option, some servings of vegetables and then something that is part of the holiday tradition. And then MOVE FORWARD.
  4. Have a Non Negotiable/No Matter what List
    1. This is meant to be short and sweet. You can have multiple ones as well, Like one for a event, and one for daily habits. For my example it will be directed toward a day of an event that i am going to indulge a little bit and have a few drinks. 1. Start my day with at least 30 mins of activity. 2. Eat a High Protein and Fat Breakfast to help keep me fuller longer 3. Stay Hydrated.  These Non Negotiables/No Matter what’s need to be short simple and something you know you can succeed at. You want to set yourself up to know that you can be successful. Having it to extreme can lead to again falling into any of the categories I mentioned earlier.
  5. Always start the day with a Fresh StartAs
    1. When it comes to surviving the holidays you should be looking for progress not perfection. Just because you weren’t successful at one event doesn’t mean you can’t be successful at the next. So give yourself a break and the opportunity to try again. I think understanding this is huge, and will change your perspective in what your next healthy move will be.

Again, These are tips that have helped me. If you have question or want me to go in depth on any of these topics feel free to reach out to me! Good Luck and Happy Holidays! =]